No CISMOA, No Problem: IAF Chief

I asked Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik today about his position on the uncertainty over whether or when India will sign the contentious Communciations Interoperability & Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) with the United States. He had a crisp, short reply: “The government asked us for our opinion on the matter. We have informed the government that [not signing the CISMOA] will not make a substantial difference as far as our operational capability is concerned.”

I’ve posted here about what the IAF doesn’t get on its brand new C-130Js as a direct consequence of not signing the CISMOA. I’ll be posting soon on how the IAF plans to fill those gaps.

23 Comments

EUMA was a necessity for any US sale to happen at all, but Indian armed forces were not comfortable with certain aspects/language of the agreement. So, GoI n the US agreed on a modified language for the agreement which took care of the sensitivities of the Indian armed forces n this agreement was signed, sealed, n delivered, thus paving the way for US sales to India to commence. This was further re-inforced with the Harpoon deal which once n for all sorted out the issues w.r.t EUMA.

LSA is not a big issue as India has provided logistical support to US forces in the past during late PM Chandrasekhar's time n is likely to do so in future also (whether agreement in place or not) as n when it suits India provided the Left is not part of any govt. at the center.

Even during the C-130J post on LiveFist, I had maintained that CISMOA n BECA are something which the Indian armed forces n DRDO can live without as a lot of work has been done by DRDO, the spin offs from which will help take care of anything withheld n of course the gr8 Indian Jugaad will fill in the the remaining gaps.

Anonymous

Anonymous

Unfortunately we will be missing out on lot of data which USA gathers all over the world.If CISMOA is not signed then chances are we may not get the E2D. Even if we do get E2D, it will be a shell without vital systems which will be denied due to lack of CISMOA.Indian Army, which prides itself as a professional force needs to come out of cold war mindset. Regarding our babus and netas, less said the better. Let IA not follow the same route.C130J is specifically meant for special operations, which means vital intelligence and communation eqp.Without such eqp, we are actually getting nothing more than a vintage AC with prices of a modern AC. Again this seems like a big goof up by all concerned.When can we do something properly?It is the poor taxpayer who is being duped royally.No wonder we are lowest even in hunger index.

Mayuresh Gaikwad

The Air Chief has shoulder stripes of the rank of an Air Marshal and one stripe seems missing in the picture. Is this an old picture (i.e. when he was an Air Marshal) or did he forget to wear one stripe?

E2D Adv Hawkeye is nothing but a turboprop CVN-based AWAC. For your info India has already made its own AWAC on the Embraer platform which is now shortly going to enter trials.If all turns out well, India will be also making its own E2F Baazey, and there would be no need to buy them from the US. Also don't forget that the Embraer-based Indian AWAC has been accomplished in record time. So, plz be a realist, not a pessimist.

DELTA

Gagan

Am I right in assuming that No CISMOA means that the FA-18 S Hornet and the F-16 IN are now out of contention in the MMRCA.

Given that these birds won't have much to show off without all the electronics and the gear that they have on them. I guess the IAF can live without uber hi-tech gear on a transport aircraft like the C-130J, but the same is not the case on a fighter aircraft.

Dhirendra

Sir.Please publish a detail interview of the Secretary of Defense Production on subjects like development, production, Product Improvement, marketting etc. of various products like LCA, Dhruv, LCH, Kaveri (including Marine Kaveri) materials for Gas Turbines, Deployment of various missiles, Arjun Tank-Mark2, Export thrust on successfully developed equipments like ALH, PINAK, various missiles etc. For some products there must be time bound development program. India is doing so well in so many areas including sports. But our defense forces as well as defense production needs lot of improvement. Transparency and anti-corruption acts needs to be improved substantially. P.K.Chaudhuri.

Anonymous

@Kunal 1st of all Embraer is a Brazilian AC and our indigenous AWACS is yet to proceed to trial stage, let alone "accomplished in record time." 2ndly Embraer cant land on carriers so how the heck can it replace E2D?

Anonymous

This is the same moron who made a Group Captain out of a cricketer. Our babus and sipahis need to understand that our borders or spheres of influence/interest is not restricted to the shores of India. It now covers almost the entire world. In this scenario, we need to have alliances and share both human and technical intelligence. CISMOA is a step in that direction.We can't possibly think of having intelligence gathering platforms all over the world. Currently we are struggling to secure our own borders.Refusal to sign the CISMOA is nothing but protecting your turf and egos at the cost of harming nations interests. Where the Chief of our armed forces/DRDO are not even in talking terms due to their inflated sarkari egos how can we think they will allow sharing of info with foreign countries?

You are only stating the most obvious. Everybody knows that Embraer RJ145 is a Brazilian a/c. AWACS can use any suitable platform for that matter. How does that take away from being an Indian built AWACS?? The AWACS consist of phased array AESA with all its associated electronics, ELINT, COMINT, etc., which are all indigenous components.

It is also well known Embraer can't land on carriers. Plz point out where in my post have I said that it can land on carriers. Plz read before passing comments. What I have said is having successfully made land-based AWACS, it is not difficult to pick up a turboprop platform n make carrier-based AWACS with the same tech. Since there is none in existence at present of Indian origin I have simply called it E2F Baazeye (futuristically), matching the US counterpart.

How was making an accomplished world-class Indian cricketer a brand ambassador of the force a moronic act? Perhaps you would care to elaborate.

One is yet to come across any strategic construct of India aspiring or trying for world hegemony, based on hard power. So, one does not quite get your point about sphere of influence being the whole world. Even from a regional hegemony perspective, India's principal tool of propagation is soft power n NOT hard power. Agreed, that it is a slow process but much more enduring, durable, n acceptable. Besides, India has historically been successful at it n hence a proven, tried n tested method.

Lastly, you should elucidate as to how not signing CISMOA n BECA will jeopardize our national security n what will be the foreign policy, strategic, tactical, n operational consequences of signing the same.

It is one thing to pass judgments without analysis but an entirely different ball game when you sit down to analyze in the light fact n reason. People in sensitive posts do not take decisions without cognizance to geopolitical imperatives. So, who is the moron??????

Anonymous

Land based AWACs and Aircraft Carrier based AWACs are two diferent things.It's not as easy as u r sounding them out to be.Pray tell me which aircraft carrier based turboprop plane you will crown with AWACs capabilities?

Anonymous

Which Airforce in the world needs "brand ambassadors"? You think our IAF is like our Ambassador cars or Tiger "biskuts" which need a Dravid to peddle their wares?

By your logic why not also make Ravi Shanker or Kula shaker brand ambassadors of IAF? You think our armed forces are some cheap bambaiyya tamasha?

Perhaps you have not heard that India's strategic interests stretches from Malacca Straits to gulf of Hormuz? Our major adversary is China,which will soon have more nuke subs than perhaps USA. With such weapons they can loiter on any part of the world and in times of conflict emerge from unexpected places.In a nutshell in such scenario you need to monitor all Seas and Oceans of the world, which is beyond India's reach or capabilities. Ergo, the need to tie up with USA which has listening and intelligence gathering devices spread all over the major seas and ocean floors.

Signing of the CISMOA means a level of US Scrutiny on the US arms being put to use in the country. India's weapon systems are aimed primarily at Pakistan and China. Pakistan is a crucial ally of the US. The US is a useful but unpredictable ally because of the hegemonistic nature of its foreign policy.Now imagine a future scenario when the Indo-US relations are again going through a cold phase and India goes to war with Pakistan by pre-emtively striking targets across the border. India will have to carry out special operations in which India's tactical transport fleet will be put to use. In that case if there is US scrutiny on the C-130s, the US might not allow it to be used against its ally Pakistan in offensive operations or might tip off the Pakistani defence establishment when the C-130s take to the air. CISMOA is indirect interferance and nosing in on India's soveriegn use of weapons which is unacceptable.